Seed planter



April 3 1 L. H. KAUPKE 1,753,520

S EED PLANT ER Filed Jan. 19, 1922 2 Shegts-Sheet 1 April 8, 1930., L. H. KAUPKE 1,753,520

v SEED PLANTER 7 Filed Jan; 19, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 8, 1930 urran stares PATENT usasfze LEE I-I. KAUPKE, or noon IsLANn, ILLINoIs, AssIeNon .ronocK IsLANnrLow COM- PANY, or ROCK ISLAND. ILLINoIs, A CORPORATION or IL I O S snnn PLANTER Original application filed July 19, 1920, Serial No. 397,166. Divided and this application filed. January 19,

' 1922. Serial No. 530,247.

This application is a division of my prior application Serial No. 397,166, for an improvement in Cotton planters, filed July 19, 1920. The apparatus herein described and claimed is adapted for use in planters for cotton and other seeds, and comprises simplified means for changing the speed of the seed plate and thereby changing the rate of delivery of seed by simply shifting the position of a gear and without interrupting the operation of the apparatus.

These and other features of my invention are illustrated in the drawings and described 7 below.

In the drawings Fig. 1 is a detail view in perspective of the gear shift and clutch mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a sectional View through the clutch j and gear shift mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a detail view in'elevation showing the operating connection for the clutch mechanism which controls the operation of the seed-delivery apparatus. I

As shown in Figure 1, the apparatus is mounted on the axle 12 from which the seeddelivery mechanism is driven. I have not in this application shown in detail the mechanism for delivering the seed from theseedcan, as that mechanism forms the subjectmatter of my co-pending application of which this is a division. Of the seed delivery mechanism I have shown in detail only the drive member 46 connected to the seed-plate.

This clutch member 46 is mounted upon a stud-shaft 47 which is rotatably mounted upon the frame of the machine, I have not herein shown in detail the coacting clutch member upon the seed-plate, that being no part of and not being necessary to an under standing of the invention claimed herein.

Rotation is imparted to the stud shaft 47 by means of a gear 48 which is slidably and non-rotatably mounted upon the stud shaft, the gear 48 being provided with a square opening fitting the stud shaft 47. which is also square. Any arrangement permitting the gear 48 to slide endwise on the shaft 47 but preventing relative rotation of the gear and stud shaft would serve the purpose.

The gear 48 is driven by its engagement with the gear wheel 49. The gear wheel 49 is loosely mounted on the axle 12, and-by means of a clutch, hereinafter described may be adjusted either to rotate freely relative to said shaft or may be fixed thereto for the purpose of derivingpower from the; shaft. The gear member 49 is provided with aplurality -ofsets of gear teeth designated respectively 70. 71 and 7 2. .As willclearly appear from Figs. land 2, the speed of rotation'of theclutch member 46 andofthe seed plate may be varied bysliding the gear 48 upon the shaft 47 into engagementwith any selected'one of the sets of teeth'70, .71 and 72. For the purpose of makingthis adjustment, I provide a shift-lever 50 pivotally mounted at 74 on the frame of the machine. The shift lever .50 is provided with a yoke 51' carrying trunnions 80 which engage a groove in the collar 51 formed integrally with the gear 48. This lever 50: can be heldina plurality of adjustable positions throughthe medium of a suitable spring catch controlled hy the handle 52, which catch is adapted'to engage with anyone ment 52 The disk gear 49is mounted upon a sleeve 53, shown in the drawing as formed inteof a plurality of holes in a seggrally with the gear. The sleeve 53is'loosely mounted upon the axle 12 and is provided at one end With a series of clutch teeth 54 which engage with corresponding teeth in a sliding clutch member. 55. The sliding member 55 iskeyed to a collar 56 which ispinned to the; axle and rotatestherewith. A spring 57 operates to normally hold the clutch member in engagement with the clutch teeth a corresponding cam face on the stationary. bearing 62. The arm 58 is formed with a shoulder 58 shown in Fig. 3, lying in the 7 Pat t m t at ere g hou d r, an

formed on the lever 28. The relative position of these shoulders is such that as the lever28 approaches its lowermost position, corresponding to the elevated position of the "furrow-opener, the shoulder 28* contacts with the shoulder 58* and imparts a rotary movement to the arm 58. IVith this construction, when the hand-lever 28 is operated to raise the furrow-opener out of the ground, the arm 60 is rotated, and, through the medium of its cam-faced engagement withthe hearing 62, it is forced laterally against, the

clutchmember 55, thus forcing this clutch member out of engagement with the clutch teeth 54 and discontinuing the operation of the disk gear 49. By this means'the raising of the furrow-opener actsautomatically to disengage the disk gear 49 from the shaft 12.

The openings in the segment 52, with which the spring-catch on the handle 52 cooperates to hold the gear 48 in mesh with the selected set of gears on the disk gear 19, are so spaced as to secure proper meshing in each of the three adjusted positions. The use of a clutch for rendering the seed-delivery mechanism inactive when the furrow-opener is elevated renders it possible to dispense with any mechanism or movementfor disengaging the gears, and with the form of disk gear illustrated the necessary changes of speed ratio are likewise effected by the single sliding movement of the gear 48 upon the shaft 47.

What I claim as my invention is:

In a device of the class described, a frame, an axle, a disk gear loosely mounted on said axle and having a plurality of sets of radially spaced concentric gear teeth fixed thereon, a stud shaft having bearing on said frame in fixed parallel relation with said disk gear, a driven gear slidably and non-rotatably mounted on said stud shaft, said driven gear having spur gear teeth adapted to have selective engagement with said sets of concentric gear teeth on the disk gear, sliding clutch means on said axle aflording driving engagement between said axle and said disk gear, cam means concentric with said axle and abutting said stud shaft bearing for operating said clutch means, and means independent ofsaid last named clutch means for shifting said driven gear.

Signed by me at Rock Island, Illinois, this 14th day of January, 1922.

.7 LEE KAUPKE. 

